“You’re so talented. Who’s this?”
“His name is Jamison. A year older than Bella. He’s the almost-son of a friend. I’m going to give it to him and his fiancée when the adoption is final.”
“Sweet.”
He turned the page again, moving back through the sketchbook. As he turned through page after page of sketches, Everly traveled through time, back to all her missions overseas and the amazing people she’d met. People of every nationality, every age. Animals from all over the world.
“Are these from your travels?” he asked.
She nodded.
“You’re drawn to faces,” he said. “Even your animals focus on the face.”
“I am. I believe you can see a person’s soul in their eyes. Their expressions.”
He lifted his gaze to hers, scanning her face. “I agree.”
The way he was looking at her, as if he could see her soul, made her uncomfortable. She wasn’t sure if she was afraid he’d see her as a Manhunter or as the raw soul she was without the Manhunter’s label. Either way, it was too close for comfort.
“So, what about that run?” she asked, refocusing on the one thing that grounded her. The one thing that made sense in her life: her work. “Tomorrow morning?”
He smiled. “Five thirty.”
“Señor Hix,” Lucia called from the kitchen. ?
?Dinner is almost ready.”
He acknowledged Lucia but turned back to Everly. “There’s a big private security company that wants to meet with me about my services. Titus Security. They’re based in DC.”
“That sounds promising.”
“We’re talking about meeting this week, so I need to ask you if you’ll be comfortable traveling with me.”
Traveling—the perfect time for an extraction. But the butterflies in Everly’s gut weren’t excitement. They were dread. “Don’t give it a second thought.”
He nodded. “We’ll be meeting in the Caribbean. The location isn’t nailed down yet.”
“If they’re open to suggestion,” she teased, “I’ve never been to Turks and Caicos.”
He smiled. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
Austin took Bella inside, and while they changed for dinner, Everly made a quick phone call to Ian.
“Any news on the office?” she asked.
“I can shut down the system easily enough, but there are alarms built in to notify him of a malfunction. Sam’s looking for a way to block the warning notifications and/or shut down the sensors in just the office. Is there any way you can get in there when he’s home? Maybe when he goes to the bathroom or grabs a snack in the kitchen?”
“The house is big, but not that big.” The thought of Austin catching her in his office sent shivers down her spine. “I’ll see what I can do, but keep Sam on it. His solution may come before mine. And tell Roman we’re traveling somewhere in the Caribbean to see a new client this week. I’ll keep him posted as to when and where as soon as I know.”
After three sweaty miles of running through the jungle, Austin had successfully steered Everly clear of the cave at the end of the beach. And he’d managed to convince her there was nothing exciting to see within his training camp.
Now, if he could keep his eyes off her ass, he’d be golden. But that wasn’t going to happen. Not when she was wearing leggings that outlined every supple curve of her butt cheeks and every toned muscle in her thighs.
She was in fantastic shape in ways that showed beyond muscle. The woman had been talking or asking questions the entire run. Her pace remained extremely consistent—up hills, down hills, through ground cover, over gravel and bark.
Austin didn’t have any trouble keeping up with her. But he was having a hard time keeping his suspicions in check. She tackled the run like a professional athlete. If his mind wasn’t wandering to her body, the way she’d kissed him the day before, or all the fantasies he’d tortured himself with last night, it was making up stories to explain her smooth adaptation to every situation, the strength and confidence with which she stood her ground, or her well-rounded physical fitness. Even her agility along the trail made him wonder…where had it come from? Even if a person was gifted in one area, they were rarely gifted in a few, let alone several.
He couldn’t stop the voice in the back of his head whispering, She’s not who or what she’s claiming to be. Worse, the damn voice went one step further with, Wouldn’t take much for Seaver to hire another team. A better team than the last one. If she was going to come after him, he would prefer she do it sooner rather than later. The more time that passed, the harder it became to remain vigilant.